For the first time in almost two decades the classic rugby posts of Fraser Park were swapped for the net of a football goal.
On Saturday, the inaugural Football on Fraser Park was held and featured a selection of junior and women’s football before the annual men’s memorial cup game took place at the newly upgraded park.
South Canterbury Football chairman Logan Gregory said the last football game he remembered being played at Fraser Park was when the Auckland Kingz [later New Zealand Knights] visited to take on a Southern Selection team in a friendly.
"It was probably about 20 years ago. I remember it well because there was a friendly game before that as well, which I participated in as an official.
"It is really good to be back up there again.
"The purpose of the upgrades was to make it a multisport facility and it has definitely opened the doors for both rugby and football to play there."
"We’re still ironing out a few bits and pieces that go along with it but progress is progress and we’ve had these games now for a start and we’ll see how it goes from there," Mr Gregory said.
A bit of work had gone into making it all happen.
"When I first approached Tim [Hyde-Smith] I said to him ‘we’ve got this memorial game that happens preseason; it’s a one-off for recollecting all the past people that have contributed to football clubs around South Canterbury’.
"He then asked if there was any chance of getting some other teams to play there as well. So it took probably three or four weeks to get everything together and make a whole day of it.
"Some clubs are still struggling to get their numbers up at this stage of the year, as we haven’t fully kicked into winter sport mode yet, but in the last week everyone put their hand up and made it happen. Football players tend to stay away from rugby, so it’s nice to invade their territory for once."
The day of football was also used as a fundraiser for the Cancer Society, he said
"We put the call out to Tracey Barratt and she organised for three or four people to turn up with buckets at the gate for donations.
"We’ve had guys like Norman Wiseman, Tony Weston, and Keith Edwards who were big names in developing and growing the game in South Canterbury pass on, so we wanted to provide some help to the Cancer Society because cancer does take an awful lot of our senior players that have contributed to the sport over the years."
The plan was to hopefully continue to use Fraser Park, he said.
"Not so much the main field but certainly the second field, we could probably get on there a bit more often.
"For me, the utilisation of the building is a key part, too, because the facility is so fantastic and accommodating for players and officials. Who wouldn’t want to go there? It almost makes me want me to put my own boots back on.
"We’ll work with Tim and find what dates are available.
" I understand it’s pretty chocker already for the next 12 months, which is fantastic to see but we’ll work with him and try and make this one an annual event."
South Canterbury Rugby chief executive Tim Hyde-Smith said it had been a bit of a learning curve when it came to incorporating the other sports at Fraser Park — "even just marking out a different type of field, like football"
"Logan was very accommodating, though, because we just put the goal in front of our big ones.
"Hopefully, it will be the way of the future. The Fraser Park trustees and us at South Canterbury Rugby really want to show the public we are a multisport facility. That’s what all the funding that was generated and the council money was for.
"We’re getting that buy-in from other codes and we’re here to facilitate and make it happen."
He said he hoped more sporting codes would get a chance to use the park as well.
"I think we need to engage with cricket again. We did have some preliminary discussions a while ago, but I need to get back to them for that sort of October onwards period.
"We’ve got a New Zealand rowing AGM in May, it’s a national event coming down here. So that’s going to be really cool.
"There’s all sorts happening at the park and on the field, which is really cool."
